In order to obtain a neat and well-groomed appearance, a person wearing a beard and/or a moustache will normally wish to trim his facial hair occasionally. Presently, there are trimmers available which are combined with electric shavers, as well as stand alone electric beard/moustache trimmers. Commonly, these trimmers have a cutting head (in which one blade reciprocates against another) that is fixed in a single position and extends from the front of the unit. For cutting the hair to a uniform length, one may use an attachment comb that spaces the cutting head from the skin by a specified distance. Typically, it is suggested that the trimmers be used to cut the hair against the grain, i.e., opposite to the direction in which the hair naturally grows.
One problem with many currently available beard trimmers relates to the relationship between the cutting head and the handle (or main body) of the unit. Oftentimes the user must position his hand and arm in potentially uncomfortable or awkward positions in order to have the cutting head aligned in the desired position with the face and/or the neck. In addition to the potential discomfort, the positioning of the trimmer unit may place the body of the unit, the user's hand, or the user's arm (or possibly all three) directly in front of the area where the hair is being trimmed, all of which obstruct the user's view of the area being trimmed and make trimming more difficult. An unobstructed view is especially important when edging around the peripheries of the beard, moustache, and sideburns in order to create edge lines that are clean and crisp.
Another problem with many currently available trimmer units also relates to the user's lack of the ability to adequately see the area where the hair is being cut. Customarily, the light in a bathroom (where the majority of beard grooming most likely takes place) originates from an overhead light source. Once again, the user's hand and the trimmer unit can possibly hinder the user from obtaining an adequate view of the area being trimmed. In this instance, the trimmer unit and the user's hand may create shadows that prevent the area being trimmed from being adequately illuminated by the overhead light. This problem is magnified in the underchin area where the chin itself creates a shadow and reduces the visibility in this area.
Thus, in light of these problems, among others, a first object of the present invention is to provide an improved hair trimmer of a design that does not require the user to position his hand in a potentially uncomfortable or awkward manner.
A second object of the present invention is to provide an improved hair trimmer which is ergonomically designed to minimize potentially awkward hand positioning by including an offset portion near the top of the main body of the unit, which otherwise extends generally linearly to define a longitudinal axis.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved hair trimmer in which the user may select the alignment of the cutting surface so that his view of the area being trimmed is not obstructed by his hand or the trimmer body.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide an improved hair trimmer in which the cutting surface may be positioned at preselected orientations by rotating the blade housing with respect to the main body of the trimmer.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved hair trimmer with a rotatable blade housing that enables the user to place the cutting surface in a properly aligned position, while still being able to comfortably hold the main body of the trimmer.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide an improved hair trimmer that can be comfortably held by the user with his elbow in a relaxed position near his body while edging around the beard, moustache, and sideburns. The present invention is intended to permit the user to edge while the plane of the blades are held nearly perpendicular to the main longitudinal axis of the trimmer body, with this main longitudinal axis being positioned substantially vertically. In this manner, the user is holding the trimmer unit in a comfortable position with adequate visibility of the area being trimmed.
A related object of the present invention is to provide an improved hair trimmer that enables the user to hold the unit in a comfortable position while using the unit to cut the beard by stroking upwards under the chin and above the cheekbones, especially when the trimmer unit used without an attachment comb.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improved hair trimmer that is equipped with a light for illuminating the area where the hair is being trimmed.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide an improved hair trimmer that is equipped with both a light and a rotatable blade housing.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an improved hair trimmer in which the cutting surface is angled so that the user's hand and arm are placed in a more comfortable position when the trimmer is used to cut hair with the grain of hair growth. It has been found that a neater looking trimmed beard may be obtained by trimming the beard with the grain, contrary to the generally accepted practice of trimming the beard against the grain. While some conventional trimmers may be capable of trimming the hair with the grain, using a conventional trimmer for trimming with the grain generally results in some awkward hand and arm positioning because many conventional trimmers are primarily designed for trimming against the grain.
Although trimming the hair against the grain may result in each hair actually being trimmed to a uniform length, trimming with the grain results in the appearance that each hair is trimmed to a uniform length. This may be true, in part, because of the manner in which hair grows. While hair generally grows in one direction, there will be certain strands that grow with a more random orientation. When trimming against the grain, all of the strands of hair will be lifted and trimmed to substantially the same length. The hair will then settle back into its original state near the skin, with some hairs being out of alignment. These hairs will be angled in relation to the other hairs, and thus will appear to have been cut shorter or longer than the other hairs, although they have actually been cut to the same length as the other hairs. This phenomenon results in the beard having a somewhat ragged look.
In contrast, if the beard is cut with the grain, a neater and more even looking appearance can be obtained, even though each strand of hair has not actually been cut to exactly the same length. When cutting the beard with the grain, those strands of hair that are growing out of alignment (relative to the majority of the hair growth) are cut to a different than those strands that are aligned. In this manner, when the unaligned strands return to their original state, and are angled with respect to the majority of the strands in that area, all of the strands of hair will appear to have been cut to a uniform length, resulting in the desired neat and well-groomed look.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improved hair trimmer configured with internal components that enable the above objects to be realized.
These and other objects of the present invention are discussed or will be apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention.